G97: Rangers & CJ Wilson dominate, beat Angels 1-0

Michael Young homered in the bottom of the first inning for the second night in a row to put us up 1-0. That was the end of the scoring this game. That was it. The first run was the last.
CJ Wilson was pitching more like Cliff Lee tonight than CJ Wilson. His pitches per inning have been pretty high this year, and was one of the things one had to watch out for when he became a starter. It was 17 and change per inning. This game he was more like Cliff Lee, averaging just 13. Even if Lee doesn’t stay here past this season (rather likely I would assume), his time with our staff this season will be a valuable lesson. CJ went eight innings total, throwing 104 pitches, which is quite good for eight. He allowed no runs on just four hits. All four of those hits were singles, and none next to each other, as NOT A SINGLE ANGEL REACHED SECOND BASE THE WHOLE GAME! I mean – WOW! CJ walked nobody, and struck out just three, but man, four hits, nobody getting to second is quite impressive.
Neftali Feliz closed out the ninth, and at this point my wife came in and watched the last inning of the game. She’s not one to remark on Rangers games except for the highlights (you know, “Chick dig the longball” and all that), but when Feliz closed out the game, she said out loud “That was some spectacular pitching”. She never says stuff like that.
This game was all about pitching. There was not a ton of offense to speak of, what with just one run at all. This was spectacular. And it gave us a seven game lead in the division over the Angels. By far the widest lead of any of the six division leaders.
It’s just a damn good feeling being a Ranger fan at the moment.
Scary moment in the game when Matt Treanor tripped over first base and fell in a heap lying in the chalk line. He had to be helped off the field, and was reported to be back in the clubhouse in crutches at the end. He’s supposed to have an MRI today, but I can’t imagine how he doesn’t go on the DL over this. Even if he’s down just a few days, we need to have a backup catcher on the roster. Shame, as he’s been doing great this year.

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